‘Fringe’: New Questions About The Observers

From the fantastical set of Fringe in Vancouver, I got to play the role of Observer (without undergoing a buzz cut, thankfully) and find out from the cast what’s coming up on this show in which “the impossibilities are endless.” Here’s a whiff of what was uncovered during my visit.

A prevailing topic on the set was that The Observers are about to get a whole lot more face time. We now know there is more than one, and that they are all named after months. The main man we’ve come to know, as played by Michael Cerveris, is “September,” by the way – but it’s the episode entitled “August” which is supposed to be a doozy. And, contrary to what you might think, it seems these fellows are far from invincible. What can bring these hairless heavies down – besides bland food? Why is Walter (John Noble) apparently their only BFF from this dimension? And why is The Observer carrying Walter’s photo around in his briefcase?

“Somehow along the line, because of Walter’s experiences, because of things he’s done, he’s been able to make communications with The Observer, whatever The Observer is – I’ll leave that for you to think about,” Noble says. “That will continue, and that will become far more dense as the season goes on, as to what the role of The Observers are, and also Walter’s relationship with them. In terms of the teaser as to why Walter’s photo is in [The Observers briefcase]: my feeling is because he’s their only live contact. The rest – they should not and cannot make contact with other people. And if they do – at their peril, which will also be revealed.”

Anna Torv promises that the William Bell and Walter meet-up is finally coming. And there are a couple of other episodes that she thinks we should keep a particularly careful eye on. “We have an episode that we did just shoot not so long ago – the last one that we did – that sort of pulls and answers a couple of questions from the episode where Charlie dies,” Torv tells us. “When she finally remembers what was said to her during the meeting with William Bell, with the mention of the man with the marking on his head also comes up, there’s some stuff that kicks in that was really fun to do, that’s a little bit of a throughline.”

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As for Joshua Jackson’s fast talking and fast thinking Peter: there’s that whole issue of having been kidnapped from the alternate dimension. We know Peter was taken from there – but who was he taken from? Another Walter? “Yeah, you would think he would have to be, right?” Jackson replies. “Yes, I think he is alter Walter’s son.” So – will this set up the BRILLIANT possibility of Walter #2 coming back to reclaim his son from Walter #1? (Pleeeeeeeease?!?) “I don’t know,” Jackson says. “I hope so. We talk about it all the time. We’re still building up to the Walter and William Bell confrontation, which should be pretty good, and the only one that is going to top that for me is the John v. John!”

What else will be revealed? Many are hoping for some proof that Astrid (Jasika Nicole) is the love child of Lance Broyles and Nina Sharp. What does Jasika think about this theory?

“I think that would be so awesome, and it would explain why she is so smart and so dedicated to her job,” Nicole responds. “Because you have to wonder where does this woman come from?’ (Ohhh, we’re wondering a lot more than that!) “I think that’s a valid idea, that she comes from a family that has some investment in what’s happening, in The Pattern,” she continues. “You also have to wonder, why is she there? This is really super top secret information they’re dealing with – they wouldn’t just bring any newbie from Quantico into this team.”

Watch this space for more answers in our exclusive interviews with the cast of ‘Fringe’ – coming soon.